Molded articles, such as those that have an internal cell structure and that are produced by curing a molding material in a mold cavity, are typically produced by a molding system having several stations, whereby the mold cavity enclosure is filled at a first station, the mold cavity enclosure is then transported to a second station at which the molding material is heated or cooled, and mold cavity enclosure is then transported to a third station at which the molded article is removed from the enclosure. Such molding systems typically occupy a relatively large amount of space.
Articles having an open foam structure (whereby the molding material is essentially molded at atmospheric pressure) are typically produced on a conveyor belt system. The molding material is poured onto the belt as the belt is moving. Sidewalls positioned on the surface near the sides of the belt contain the molding material. The molding material is contained only by the belt and the sidewalls, and may expand freely upwards. This process produces long slabs of open foam product, which is then machined to remove the dimensionally uncontrolled portion on top. The final slab may then be machined as desired to produce a final open-cell structure product. Typically, this process is time-consuming, and produces a significant amount of waste due to the removal of the topmost portion, and also during the later machining steps to produce a final product.